Analyzing Granite Real Estate (NYSE:GRP.U) & Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE)

Granite Real Estate (NYSE:GRP.U) and Apple Hospitality REIT (NYSE:APLE) are both mid-cap finance companies, but which is the better business? We will compare the two companies based on the strength of their risk, institutional ownership, profitability, earnings, valuation, dividends and analyst recommendations.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Granite Real Estate and Apple Hospitality REIT”s revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Granite Real Estate	$415.37 million	8.61	$263.17 million	$3.86	15.28
Apple Hospitality REIT	$1.42 billion	2.08	$214.06 million	$0.73	17.10

Granite Real Estate has higher earnings, but lower revenue than Apple Hospitality REIT. Granite Real Estate is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Apple Hospitality REIT, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Profitability

This table compares Granite Real Estate and Apple Hospitality REIT’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Granite Real Estate	48.19%	5.20%	3.02%
Apple Hospitality REIT	12.37%	5.46%	3.55%

Insider and Institutional Ownership

57.1% of Granite Real Estate shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 89.7% of Apple Hospitality REIT shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.3% of Granite Real Estate shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 7.1% of Apple Hospitality REIT shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current recommendations for Granite Real Estate and Apple Hospitality REIT, as provided by MarketBeat.com.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Granite Real Estate	0	0	0	0	0.00
Apple Hospitality REIT	0	4	3	0	2.43

Apple Hospitality REIT has a consensus price target of $12.92, indicating a potential upside of 3.46%. Given Apple Hospitality REIT’s stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Apple Hospitality REIT is more favorable than Granite Real Estate.

Summary

Apple Hospitality REIT beats Granite Real Estate on 8 of the 13 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Granite Real Estate

Granite Real Estate Investment Trust is engaged in the ownership and management of predominantly industrial properties in Canada, the United States, Mexico and Europe. The Company owns and manages rental income properties. Its services include sourcing and real estate acquisition, site development, assisting with government approvals and re-zoning to specific uses, build-to-suit construction, property renovation, project management and long-term leasing. Granite Real Estate Investment Trust, formerly known as Granite Real Estate Inc., is based in Toronto, Canada.

About Apple Hospitality REIT

Apple Hospitality REIT, Inc. (NYSE: APLE) is a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT) that owns one of the largest and most diverse portfolios of upscale, rooms-focused hotels in the United States. Apple Hospitality's portfolio consists of 223 hotels with more than 29,400 guest rooms located in 87 markets throughout 37 states as well as one property leased to third parties. Concentrated with industry-leading brands, the Company's hotel portfolio consists of 99 Marriott-branded hotels, 119 Hilton-branded hotels and five Hyatt-branded hotels.